LOGINVALENTINAWaking up felt like drowning in pure agony.It wasn’t a surface-level sting or a sharp burn, it was a heavy, suffocating throb pulsing directly behind my eyes. With every single beat of my panicked heart, the pain hammered against the inside of my skull, dull and brutal, as if someone had cracked my head open with a lead pipe and left the raw, throbbing wound to fester in the dark.My tongue clung to the roof of my mouth, dry as desert sand, and a fierce, fiery friction flared around my wrists and ankles. I tried to move, but the sudden heat of coarse rope biting into my flesh forced a low, ragged groan from my throat. I tried to lift my chin, but the second I did, the entire room tilted violently on its axis, dissolving into a dizzying, nauseating spin.I clamped my eyelids shut tight, swallowing down the bitter, sour taste of bile rising in my throat. Think. Where am I? My thoughts were sluggish, tangled in a fog. The last clear memory I had was sitting in the back of t
Valentine’s POVA few seconds later, his reply flashed on the screen.Matteo: Like I'd predicted, Tesoro. Believe me now?I stared at the words for a long moment, more tears slipping free and splashing onto the screen. He had warned me that they would play me like this.Me: Thank you.Then, after taking another shaky, deep breath to steady my racing heart, I typed out the only question that mattered now.Me: What’s the next plan?The typing bubble appeared at the bottom of the chat. It disappeared, then appeared again, making my chest tighten with every second of delay. Finally, his response came through.Matteo: Do you trust me?I read it three times before answering. Did I trust him? I didn't have a choice anymore. Everyone else had already turned their backs on me.Me: Yes.He sent a bunch of files right after that. Videos, documents, bank records, photos, signed statements. It was a literal mountain of digital evidence, a massive data dump that flooded my chat feed. I opened the v
Valentina’s POVThe first thing I felt when I woke up was the cold seeping through the floorboards and straight into my bones.The second was a deep, aching pain that had absolutely nothing to do with my body and everything to do with the bleeding mess inside my chest. It felt heavy, suffocating, spreading through every single part of me until even breathing felt like too much work.I opened my eyes slowly, my vision blurry, and realized I was still curled up on the hard living room floor of Horace’s villa, right where I’d cried myself to sleep the night before. The heavy blanket I’d dragged down from upstairs was tangled and twisted around my legs like a trap, and one of the throw pillows had ended up halfway across the room, looking like it had tried to escape the total disaster that was me.The villa was completely silent. Just like yesterday. Just like the day before that. Just like the hollow feeling in my chest that wouldn’t go away no matter how hard I tried to ignore it.I st
HORACEElisha had practically dragged me out to the most exclusive club, just like every other night since she had showed up. Parties, endless alcohol, loud suffocating crowds, flashing strobe lights, anything to distract me. Anything to stop me from thinking about the bloody mess my life had become.Meanwhile, I sat alone in the center of the VIP lounge like a king in an empty castle, nursing another glass of dark liquor that burned all the way down my throat. Good. I welcomed the fire. Maybe if I drank enough of it, it would finally burn away the rest of it too. The anger, the pull of the bond, the memories, the guilt, the longing, and the fragile, stupid hope that kept trying to claw its way back to the surface no matter how hard I tried to kill it.Girls approached my table all night. Beautiful ones. High-profile models, actresses, influencers, even the elite daughters from strong, powerful pack families. It didn’t matter. I felt absolutely nothing. Not a spark of attraction, n
HORACEThe second those words left Valentina’s mouth, it felt like someone had reached straight into my chest and twisted my very vital heartstring until it nearly snapped in half.“Goodbye, Horace.”The room stayed completely silent after she turned and walked out. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. Even the air felt thick and toxic, like the whole house was holding its breath along with me. I kept staring at the empty doorway long after she disappeared through it, because some stupid, desperate part of me still expected her to storm back in, keep arguing, keep yelling, keep fighting to prove me wrong like she always did.But she didn’t.The bond felt distant now. Not gone exactly, but stretched thin and cold, like standing on one side of a frozen lake and barely hearing someone call your name from the far shore. My fingers curled into tight fists at my sides, the pressure turning my knuckles white as I fought the urge to run after her.Elisha’s voice finally broke the heavy quiet. “You’re
HORACE“I didn’t know!” Valentina’s voice exploded louder than I’d ever heard it, the raw, agonized force of it making the living room feel like it shook. Tears spilled over her cheeks, hot and fast. “I had never even seen her before!!”My wolf growled softly, a protective rumble that wasn't aimed at her, but at me for causing that sound. And I hated it. I hated all of this. I hated the division, the lies, and the agony tearing through the bond between us.Elisha shook her head, looking over at me to gain favor. “This is ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.”“Enough,” I said, my voice coming out colder and sharper than I always meant it to be.Elisha blinked, completely surprised. I rarely spoke to her with that kind of biting edge, but I couldn’t take her constant interruptions anymore.“Horace…” she started, her face twisting into a mask of soft hurt.“Please, enough, Elisha! How many times do I have to shut you up?” My tone left absolutely no room for argument, slicing through the air l
VALENTINA He spoke with such arrogance that it made my body ache. I barely had time to gasp before he moved. There was no teasing and no waiting. He drove three fingers deep inside me, filling me so completely that I felt stretched and filled under his touch.The sensation was massive, and it made
VALENTINA His lips descended on mine again and this time the kiss deepened, turning into something thick and ruinous. His tongue danced with mine. I kissed him back with a desperate hunger, my fingers tangling in his hair to pull him closer His hands roamed my body, tracing the curve of my neck
VALENTINA I scrolled further, seeing a GIF of the butt-spank looped over and over. "‘The Ice Reaper doesn't play nice. He plays for keeps.’" I couldn't help it, a small, tired smile tugged at my lips. Then I saw a photo of myself looking shocked and laughed softly. "I look like a deer in headlight
VALENTINAI walked out of the locker room, my head spinning. The heavy silence in the hallway felt like a weight pressing down on me. I looked around, desperate to find Horace, but he was nowhere to be seen."He’s gone, Val," one of the teammates said, his voice flat and distracted as he focused on







